Tom Cruise Will Live to Be 1,000 in Biblical Epic ‘Methuselah’

Tom Cruise is not one for subtlety. After spending the last decade in peak physical condition and proving his prowess through a series of action films, the actor was seemingly worried that we still did not get the point of how impressive he is. So what does Cruise do? He signs on for Methuselah, a movie about a famous biblical character who lived over 900 years and was considered a great warrior and leader for almost all of them. Yes, Tom Cruise, we get the point. You’re amazing and will never actually age.

According to Deadline(via /Film), Methuselah has been a long-gestating project for both actor and studio and was finally given a jolt of life with the addition of Joachim Rønning, the director behind the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The article refers to the film as an ‘epic vehicle’ for Warner Bros. that will focus on the character’s legendary longevity and the ‘unparalleled survival skills’ he picked up along the way. Does this sound like the Old Testament equivalent of Highlander to anyone else? I think that mainstream and religious audiences can agree that’s a pretty good tagline.

Methuselah is mentioned only briefly in the book of Genesis, and even then primarily due to his advanced age and propensity for begating children even after he turned 700 years old. Methuselah does get a bit more of a mention in the Jewish Book of Enoch, however, where he is said to have a great sword named the Sword of Methuselah which he uses to vanquish ghosts and evil spirits. Now we’re talking Tom Cruise movies. It’s one thing for the actor to play a character who remains in peak physical condition long after everyone around him has died — that’s pretty much the story he lives out every single day — but killing ghosts with swords sounds way more fun.